BSU Math 275 (Calc. III) -- Section 002, Spring 2012

Instructor: Dr. Shari Ultman

e-mail: shariultman@boisestate.edu

Office: Math/Geoscience Building, Room 236D

Office Hours: MF 9:40--10:30, W 11:00--12:00, Th 2:00--3:30, and by appointment.

My Weekly Schedule

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Teaching Assistant: Billy Hudson

e-mail: billyhudson@boisestate.edu

Office: Math/Geoscience Building, Room 238C

Office Hours: MTuWF 12:40--4:30. Priority will be given to Math 275 students from 1:40--2:30 and from 3:40--4:30; otherwise, priority will be given to Math 175 students.

Course Documents

Syllabus: Information about class meetings, text, learning objectives and grading policies. (Revised 1/31 to reflect change in office hours.)

Schedule: This schedule will be updated throughout the semester.

Assumed Prior Knowledge: A list of the material from previous courses that you will be responsible for knowing for Math 275.

Basic Derivatives and Integrals: You may use this table for exams.

Midterm 1 Review: Information on note cards, material covered, suggested problems, etc.

• Midterm 1 Solutions

Midterm 2 Review: Information on note cards, material covered, suggested problems, etc.

• Midterm 2 Solutions

Midterm 3 Review: Information on note cards, material covered, suggested problems, etc.

• Midterm 3 Solutions (problem 3 corrected 4/27). The two most common mistakes on this exam were in problem 5. The wire is one dimensional, so its mass is computed using a line integral, not a double integral (5a). The density of the wire increases along the length of the wire, so the point dividing the wire into two segments of equal mass is not the center of mass; the center of mass depends not only on how much mass lies on either side, but also on the mass is distributed (5b).

Final Exam Review: (Revised 5/2 to update note card info) Information on note cards, material covered, suggested problems, etc. This is a long review, since the final covers the entire course.

• Skills Quiz Slides (posted Wed 5/2)

Supplemental Text

The Geometry of Vector Calculus: Developed by Tevian Dray and Corinne Manogue at Oregon State University. This is the supplemental text for our course.

Links

Wolfram Alpha

Parametric curves in 3D By Barbara Kaskosz at the University of Rhode Island.

Surface/level curve grapher By Barbara Kaskosz at the University of Rhode Island and Doug Ensley at Shippensburg University.

Tangent Plane Applet From the Saint Louis University Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, based on an applet developed at Brown University for the calculus class of Tom Banchoff.

Vector Field Analyzer II Plots planar vector fields. By Matthias Kawski at Arizona State University.

2-D Vector Field Simulation and 3-D Vector Field Simulation These are tremendously fun to play around with... By Paul Falstad.

D.Q. Nykamp at the website Math Insight has a few pages that may help with understanding curl and divergence:

• The idea of the curl of a vector field.
• Subtleties about curl.
• The idea of the divergence of a vector field.
• Subtleties about divergence.

Assignments

Skills Quiz Preparation: These list the material that needs to be mastered for the skills quizzes.

Homework Assignments: These problems are to be turned in for a grade.

Worksheets: These worksheets are to be turned in for a grade.

Supplemental exercises: These exercises provide extra practice on the basic methods and concepts covered in a given section. You should complete as many as necessary to master the given technique. These problems are for personal enrichment only; they will not be graded. Do not turn these in.

Announcements

• Sun 5/6: FINAL EXAM ANNOUNCEMENTS:
  
  
  • The final will be held from 8:00-10:00am on Wednesday 9 May in our regular classroom. I will be checking photo ID at the final, so bring either your student ID, a driver's license or state-issued photo ID.
  
  
  • I will have office hours on Monday and Tuesday from 2:00-4:00pm.
  
  
  • All grades except for worksheet 3 and the final exam have now been posted to Blackboard. If there is a discrepancy between a score you see posted on Blackboard and a score you have written on a returned paper, please let me know so I can correct it. I will need to see the graded paper; bring it either to my office hours or to the final exam.
  
  
  • Study resources: posted on the course web page are a review for the final exam, copies of the slides from the skills quizzes, and solutions keys for the three midterms, the three worksheets, and all homework assignments. There are also links to online graphing applets and to the supplemental course text. Also, remember the discussion board on Blackboard.
  
  



• Thurs 5/3: A few announcements:
  
  
  • Please fill out the course evaluation for this class. You can log in here (there's a big green "login here" link on the right side of the page). Evaluations are anonymous. I take written comments very seriously: if you take the time to write it, I'll take the time to read it. Evals need to be completed by tomorrow (Friday) afternoon.
  
  
  • An estimate of your current grade (not counting the final exam, worksheet 3 and homework 12 and 13) has been posted on Blackboard.
  
  
  • Because the grading rubric is so complicated this semster, I'm posting a spreadsheet here that can be used to estimate your grade in this class. Instructions are included in the spreadsheet. It should download as an .xls file.



• Wed 5/2: Skills quiz slides are now posted. Please let me know if you have any trouble with the links. I will have current grade estimates (including everything except the final, assignments 12 & 13, and worksheet 3) uploaded to Blackboard later this evening.



• Wed 5/2: You have until noon on Friday 2/4 to turn in the last homework assignment. If you don't turn it in during class, please bring it to the Math Department office and ask that it be put in my mailbox. Class on Friday will be devoted to study-groups (you can find me in my office if you show up late and noone is in the classroom). The slides from the skills quizzes should be up later this afternoon (look under the exam review link).



• Mon 4/30: The review for the final exam has been posted. I recommend at least glancing at it before class on Wednesday (so we can decide what kind of review to do on Friday). Also posted are solutions to Worksheet 3 and all homework assignments (with the exception of Assignment 13, due on Friday).



• Fri 4/27: A mistake on the solution for exam 3 problem 3 was pointed out to me. The correction has been posted. The review for the final exam should be posted later today or tomorrow.



• Tues 4/24: Midterm 3 has been graded and will be returned in class tomorrow. Statistics:
  • Total possible points: 70
  • Mean: 51.22 (73.18%)
  • Median: 58 (82.86%)
  • Standard deviation: 18.03
  • Midterm 1, 2 & 3 scores --- a .pdf file comparing scores on the three midterm exams. Scores have been normallized to reflect a total of 100 points. Statistics are calculated after dropping any zero scores (so they will differ from those shown above).



• Fri 4/20: There's a typo on problem #3 of Worksheet 3b. The vector area element should be $d\vec{A} = d\vec{r}_x \times d\vec{r}_y$, not $d\vec{A} = d\vec{r}_r \times d\vec{r}_{\theta}$.



• Wed 4/18: The course schedule and homework have been updated.



• Mon 4/16: The final part of Worksheet 3 has been posted. Bring it to class with you on Wednesday.
  
  You should be able to get started on the homework for section 15.3; the only item we did not cover was how to find potentials of conservative vector fields. We'll start with that on Wednesday. you will not have to find potentials for the quiz, but you are expected to be able to recognize whether a function is a potential for a given field (since you know how to compute gradients).



• Fri 4/13: I've posted (on Blackboard) an estimate of your course grade as it stands before the third midterm. Look under the column headed "grade estimate 4/13". You should also take a few minutes to check the scores I have posted for you. If you find a discrepancy, please bring it to my attention asap.
  
  Also: note that, for the rest of the semester, you should expect the skills quiz to begin at 8:15am sharp. I'll try to have warm-up problems up by 8:05.



• Mon 4/9: I've added links to a few online vector field graphing applets (above, under "Links").



• Fri 4/6: solutions to homework assignments 7 & 8 have been posted. Solutions to assignment 9 will be posted Monday 4/9.



• Thurs 4/5: CALC. III TUTORING AVAILABLE. It has been brought to my attention that there is drop-in (free) tutoring offered in the atrium of the Engineering Technology building (third floor). There are four tutors. All four have completed calc 3. The tutoring is available for all students (not just engineering). Sunday through Thursday, between noon and 8pm, there is usually a tutor. A schedule with the exact times is posted on the first floor of the ET building.



• Thurs 4/5: assignment 10 has been revised slightly.



• Wed 4/4: here are the problems from class today, and the solutions to #1.



• Mon 4/2: You do not need to solve for "c" in problem 46 in section 14.5 -- just set up an equation involving a triple integral that could be used to find "c".
  We will be having a skills quiz at the beginning of class on Wednesday. You are allowed to have the volume elements and change-of-coordinates written down for the quiz.



• Tues 3/20: Midterm 2 has been graded and will be returned in class tomorrow. Statistics:
  • Total possible points: 100
  • Mean: 74.16
  • Median: 75.5
  • Mode: 17.6
  • Standard deviation: 17.6
  • Midterm 1 & 2 scores --- a .pdf file.



• Mon 3/19: The web page for the worksheets has been updated.



• Sun 3/11: Class canceled, Monday 3/12.



• Mon 3/5: The graphs from today's class were created using the "grapher" application on Mac (should be available on any Mac with operating system 10.4 or later). If you are interested in seeing how to graph basic surfaces and curves using this utility, come by my office hours. If you have a Mac and want to play with the graph used in class today, you can download it here (it's a 4.9 MB .gcx file -- you may need to remove an extraneous .txt extension).



• Fri 3/2: Change to assignment 7: # 41 in section 13.7 has been "un-assigned".



• Wed 2/29: The review for midterm 2 has been posted above (under "Course Documents").



• Thurs 2/23: Slight modification to assignment 6: drop # 35 from section 13.4 and add # 1, 6 in its place. Worksheet 2 has been posted. A spreadsheet of current scores across the entire class has been posted below with the Midterm 1 statistics.



• Tues 2/21: Midterm 1 statistics:
  • Total possible points: 50
  • Mean: 34.3
  • Median: 36
  • Mode: 31
  • Standard deviation: 10.02
  • class-wide scores: keep in mind that there are no letter grades associated with any of these scores at this time. This spreadsheet is meant to give you a way of seeing where you stand relative to the rest of the class.



• Mon 2/6: A bunch of announcements:
  • My Wednesday office hours will be from 11:40--12:30 (this week only; office hours will resume at the time listed above next week).
  • I have posted answers and solutions to Assignments 1 and 2, and Worksheet 1. (I was not originally planning on posting the full solutions, but I am interested in finding out if you feel that having access to the solutions significantly helps you learn the material and succeed in the class.)
  • With this week's homework assignment, I will begin a zero-tolerance policy for unstapled papers or papers lacking a cover sheet. If your assignment is not stapled or does not have a cover sheet, it will receive a score of zero. The grader may take off point for other formatting lapses at their discretion.
  • The lowest homework score for the semester will be dropped from the final grade.
  
  
  
• Fri 2/3: For more on the scalar line element, see The Vector Differential (Bridge Book).



• Thurs 2/2: A review for the first midterm is now posted (under "Corse Documents" above). The first midterm will be held in class on Friday 2/10. Be there or b². Wednesday 2/8 will be review for the exam.



• Wed 2/1: An ambiguity in the statement of problem 3-3 on Worksheet 1 has been pointed out to me. To be more explicit: the line along which the second particle is traveling is the line along which the minimum distance from Q to the path of the first particle is realized. (h/t Marc Payne)



• Tues 1/31: My Wednesday office hours have changed (starting tomorrow, Wed 2/1). They will now be held from 11:00--12:00. Monday, Thursday and Friday office hours remain unchanged.



• Mon 1/30 (10:00pm): The skills quiz prep for Wednesday has been revised (the reading from the Bridge Book on vector differentials has been removed -- we'll get to it later in the semester).



• Mon 1/30: If you were in class this morning, you can check whether your clicker is properly registered and if I received a response from your clicker during the practice skills quiz here. If you are having problems registering your clicker, please contact me.



• Sun 1/29: The first worksheet has been posted.



• Fri 1/27: The point of problems #28 and #31 in section 11.4 (assignment 2) is to help you learn the properties of the dot and cross product. You can find justifications for many of these in the tables on pages 619 & 624. You do not need to prove these by hand, but you do need to provide justification by citing the relevant table and what property you are calling on.



• Thurs 1/26: I've revised the schedule for the next three classes. We will be covering the material from section 11.5 on Friday (lines) and Monday (planes). Section 12.1 has been moved to next Wednesday.
  
  A reminder that starting tomorrow, skills quiz scores will count towards the course grade.



• Wed 1/25: If you were in class this morning, you can check whether your clicker is properly registered and if I received a response from your clicker during the practice skills quiz here. If you are having problems registering your clicker, please contact me.



• Mon 1/23: If you were in class this morning, you can check whether your clicker is properly registered and if I received a response from your clicker during the practice skills quiz here. Also, Billy will have abbreviated office hours tomorrow (Tuesday 1/24). He will only be in from 12:40--1:30 12:30--3:30.



• Fri 1/20: A bunch of announcements today:
  
  
  • The slides from today's planned skills quiz can be viewed here.
  
  
  • Students have asked whether it is ok to talk to me about homework problems during office hours, and if it is ok to discuss homework problems on Blackboard. The answer to both questions is yes. In fact, both are encouraged. I do request that you not post full solutions on Blackboard, since there may be students following the thread who have not had a chance to think about the problem for themselves. Also, you are welcome to come by my office anytime, not just during scheduled office hours. If I'm in and have time, I'll be happy to discuss questions.
  
  
  • For those of you interested in using remote devices in place of clickers, here's the information I can pass on:
  • The system is called ResponseWare. You can find out more about it here. Various User Guides (both for ResponseWare and for the ResponseCards/"clickers) can be found here.
  • You will need to purchase a license code. You can buy it online here; the School Code is Xuj4. You can also see if they are available at the BSU Bookstore. The apps for mobile devices are free from itunes.
  • You will still need to register your device on Blackboard.
  • Be advised: this is all the information I have. If you decide to use ResponseWare and have questions, you will need to sort it out on your own or with the help of your classmates (I have opened a dedicated discussion thread on Blackboard). If you use ResponseWare and have problems responding to skills quizzes or otherwise in class, it is your responsibility (you will not be allowed make-up points or other accommodations). Finally, you should make sure you will not be billed for this by your cell phone provider.



• Wed 1/18: When sending me an e-mail, please include "Math 275" somewhere in the subject line.
  
  Regarding the grading of "clicker questions":
  • skills quizzes will be graded on correctness;
  • in-class response will be graded on participation.



• Mon 1/16: Welcome to Math 275. The links to the course syllabus and schedule should be working; please let me know if you have any problems opening them. The remaining links will be going live over the course next day or so...
  
  In the meantime, please go to Blackboard and do the following two things:
  
  
  • Register your "clicker". To do this, click on the "Tools" link in the box on the left side of the course page. Under the list of available tools is a link to the "TurningPoint Registration Tool"; click on this link and follow the instructions. "Clickers" must be registered to get credit for skills quizzes and in-class response.
  
  
  • Subscribe to the Math 275 Discussion Forum. To do this, click on the "Discussion Board" link in the box on the left side of the course page, then follow the given instructions.